


A Big (Little) Gift

by colouring



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 22:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11450805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colouring/pseuds/colouring
Summary: Johnny is spending his birthday in Chicago this year, but that doesn't stop everyone from NCT minus the Dreamies but plus Mark and Haechan from sending him an extra special birthday present all the way from Korea (hint: it's kitten related)





	A Big (Little) Gift

**Author's Note:**

  * For [opalesce](https://archiveofourown.org/users/opalesce/gifts).



> HAPPY BIRTHDAY KRISTEN I can't even explain how glad I am to have met you, thank you for not feeling weirded out from me suddenly wanting to be friends with you after amber's vixx ppt nfwonefoiewfoin I LOVE YOU ANGEL I HOPE YOU HAVE THE BESTEST DAY AND I HOPE THIS IS OKAY the idea came while i was walking home and i somehow wanted to reference error mv BUT I DIDNT WANT IT TO BE SAD so here it is ahahah
> 
> THANK YOU TO MY BETAS MY JOHNIL ENABLER [hotarumyst](http://archiveofourown.org/users/hotarumyst) for your encouragement and opening my eyes to johnil and as always to my #1 rock [aurics ](http://archiveofourown.org/users/aurics) for always rightfully calling out my lazy brain, my writing would otherwise just be trash dot com
> 
> ALSO! This fic has now been remixed, and although it's not as fluffy it's still absolutely amazing, please have a go and read and comment on it <3 read it [ here ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994124)

A giant yellow box wrapped in a pink polka dot bow is not what Johnny expects to see when he opens his front door on a Sunday morning. _Was this worth getting up for, even just to shut down the 20-minute long doorbell abuse?_ Speaking of which, the doorbell perpetrator— who Johnny had imagined giving a stern scolding as he dragged his tired body from the comfort of his bed— is nowhere to be seen.

 

So now on top of sporting a sour mood, he can’t even unleash it on anyone.

 

Groaning at the stroke of misfortune he has to deal with so early on in the day, Johnny drags the surprisingly heavy box to his living room. This box had better contain a lottery’s worth of cash and a punching bag to compensate for the cranky mood he’s going to be stuck with.

 

What he finds instead, upon loosening the bow and chucking the card after a cursory glance at the sender’s address, is a beautiful boy in kitten-printed boxers, sleeping peacefully with his hands tucked into his ear.

 

(Boy is perhaps a misnomer because he is definitely of adult proportions— Johnny is doubly, no _triply_ sure of that— but his face looks like it has never seen anything bad in the world.)

 

Johnny takes a wary step back and fumbles for the card he discarded earlier.

 

_“Happy Birthday Johnny!_

_We always find you watching that cartoon with the bulldog and the kitten so we thought we would get you your very own kitten to fawn over! He’s cute isn’t he ><. He can keep you company while you spend your birthday in Chicago without us. I (Yuta speaking here) personally chose him myself, he’s called Taeil! He’ll wake up if you call him that ;)._

_(Yuta why did you write in a winky face, is there something we don’t know about this kitten.)_

_(Shut up Doyoung, you’re ruining the card)_

_(Wait why does he have the same name as Taeil-hyung)_

_(This was Yuta hyung’s idea, we’re just being good dongsaengs - Jaehyun)_

_(I think Taeil is super cute >3<! Please give him lots of love <3 - Taeyong)_

_Love,_

_Everyone in NCT who cares about your well-being minus the Dreamies but plus Haechan and Mark”_

 

Johnny looks up from the card and eyes the boy still sleeping soundly with concern. _Definitely_ not a kitten. Yuta has a lot of explaining to do.

 

* * *

 

So it turns out, after a long overseas phone call with his ‘friends’ in Korea and a thorough internet search, this Taeil boy is some kind of life-like robot only Japan would have the insight to produce— so he’s not a _real boy, thank god_ , but that doesn’t make Johnny feel any less weirded out when the robot boy opens his eyes in response to Johnny’s flustered “Taeil”.

 

Taeil blinks slowly before smiling, “Hello, I am Taeil and I am good at fishing. Let’s do something fun today!”

 

(In fact, it puts the situation in a whole different level of weird that Johnny isn’t quite sure he can fully grasp yet, especially not with this warmth creeping up his ears from Taeil’s soft smile.)

 

“But first, what should I call you?” Taeil looks up at him expectantly, tilting his head in a way that he _must_ know makes him look at least ten times more adorable, except he won’t know, won’t _realise_ that he’s just made Johnny’s heart beat erratically from a simple head manoeuvre. Because he’s just a robot. Right?

 

A very life-like robot. From the way the tails of his eyes curl up when he smiles to the way his eyelashes flutter with even the slight movement, nothing about him hints at his automaton interior. And that voice, that sweet melodic voice Johnny has come to associate with anything good in his life— how did they manage to replicate that?

 

This is all a bit too much for Johnny. He bolts upstairs and vows to never leave his room until he has to go back to Korea and can face off Yuta in the flesh.

 

* * *

 

After a period of intense self-reflection and a rumbling stomach that refuses to subside, Johnny goes downstairs to find Taeil still sitting exactly where Johnny left him this morning. Robot Taeil, and not real-life Taeil in Korea.

 

Wait a second.

 

Johnny nearly bulldozes his entire house trying to find the card.

 

_Everyone in NCT who cares about your well-being._

 

Does this include real-life Taeil? He’s part of NCT and cares about Johnny’s well-being, right? But why would he participate in giving a present of an eerily exact replicate of himself to Johnny?

 

Although, it is entirely possible that some of the members had no idea what they were participating in, as evidenced by Doyoung’s incredulous hollering when Johnny called this morning.

 

Johnny sends real-life Taeil a frantic text anyway.

 

* * *

 

Johnny decides he’ll give himself five minutes to converse with Taeil, after which he can go back to locking himself up in his room with his TV and 13 seasons of Grey’s Anatomy on DVD.

 

“Good morning Taeil,” Johnny stammers.

 

After going through the exact same wake-up routine he went through earlier today, Taeil turns his body to face Johnny cowering on the sofa, “Good morning-“

 

His face falls as he realises the piece of missing information, “But I don’t know what to call you.”

 

Johnny gulps, “Johnny is fine.”

 

“Ah, Johnny, did you sleep well?”

 

Johnny nods, “Did you?” Stupid question Johnny, robots don’t sleep.

 

“I don’t sleep, I just switch off,” Taeil replies, “So what do you want to do today?”

 

The rumbling in his stomach is somehow more echoing and twice as loud, so Johnny will start with that.

 

* * *

 

Taeil may be a robot, but Johnny would rather have butterfingers Doyoung in the kitchen than have Taeil whisk eggs. Still, it breaks Johnny’s heart seeing his eyebrows knot in frustration when Johnny turfs him out after he dumps too much salt in the omelette and sets off the fire alarm twice.

 

He lets Taeil back in after the boy would not stop drilling holes into the back of Johnny’s head with his eyes. Johnny lifts him up on the counter far away from any danger and gives him a ladle to play with.

 

(“I don’t need to eat, but I’ve got tastebuds on my tongue so I can test-taste food for you.” Taeil says in between chewing his fourth cheesy omelette.

 

Johnny stares at him blankly.

 

“The newer robots like me are _very_ life-like, we can imitate human hunger and everything.”)

 

* * *

 

_Taeil Sent 11:02 Johnny, I trust in Yuta’s choice of gifts and so should you. Also make sure Robot-Me is taken care of like a real human and that includes food, sleep, poop-time and clothes. From the catalogue, it seems he only comes in boxers._

 

* * *

 

“Is it your birthday today?”

 

Johnny looks up from rummaging through his drawers, a messy pit of fabric that he really needs to sort out sometime soon.

 

“Yeah, how did you know?”

 

Taeil waves the birthday card Johnny thought he has ripped to shreds and thrown in a dark abyss somewhere. Or something like that.

 

“We should do something fun!” Taeil croons.

 

After a long and hard battle with his clothes, Johnny finally manages to fish out an old shirt and a pair of joggers from when he was still in high school. He hands them over to Taeil, who looks at the clothes like they’re some kind of extra-terrestrial contraption. Johnny can only sigh before he starts pulling at the joggers’ waistband, gesturing with his eyes for Taeil to put his left leg in the left trouser-leg, _no not Johnny’s left, Taeil’s left._

 

“What do you want to do?” Johnny mutters, furrowing his eyebrows at the pesky button-hole, “Hold on, stay still, I can’t button this shirt properly on you.”

 

Taeil gives no heed to Johnny’s request and continues to theatrically demonstrate what he wants to do with a grin.

 

“Fishing! Let’s go fishing!”

 

Fishing? That seemingly harmless activity that is actually more dangerous than you think, as validated when Taeil accidentally smacks Johnny’s head while trying to ‘reel in’ a ‘big one’? Does Taeil come with robot insurance?

 

“Please, I’m really good at it?” Taeil begs with the full force of the aegyo gods backing him.

 

Now how is Johnny supposed to disrespect the gods like that.

 

* * *

 

_Johnny Sent 11:03 Yuta, how come Taeil didn’t come with a manual. Also does he have insurance_

 

_Yuta Sent 14:22 oh sorry, we forgot to send it_

 

_Johnny Sent 14:22 Why would you have the manual? Didn’t Taeil come from the robot company?_

 

_Johnny Sent 14:30 Oi, Yuta don’t leave me on read_

 

_Johnny Sent 14:31 You’re so dead when I come back_

 

* * *

 

The last time Johnny visited Lake Michigan was back in middle school: he and a couple of his hooligan friends had taken the day off and decided to throw jelly worms at the fishing boats floating by, mocking at how 'old' and 'stupid' they are. It feels a bit of a piss-take now that he’s grown up to be the very victim of his teenage defiance. His younger self would take one look at the growing pile of fish in his cooler box and probably disown him.

 

Taeil on the other hand, has had no such fishing luck and is now bargaining with the fish to _please, please_ take up his bait in exchange for his infinite love and compassion.

 

“Didn’t you say you were good at fishing?” Johnny chimes in from the other side of the boat.

 

Taeil shoots Johnny a look that he probably intends to be menacing and angry, but that Johnny finds incredibly endearing, especially the way his lips stick out in the cutest pout known to man. Johnny kind of really wants to put those lips back in place and maybe put a smile on them. With his own lips. Oh dear.

 

“I was really good in Japan though…” Taeil whines. “Maybe American fishes don’t like me.” He stares gloomily at the clear blue waters, imagining the red-starred and blue-striped fishes of Lake Michigan mocking him as they swim over to the American side of the boat.

 

It’s really unfair that not a single fish is willing to take his bait; Taeil really wanted to catch one for Johnny so he could prepare him a birthday sashimi meal. His train of thought about the fishes possibly conspiring against him is interrupted by the sound of Johnny hopping over from the other end of the boat. Taeil swats his arm around to indicate he didn’t need Johnny’s help. Ignoring his protests while expertly dodging Taeil’s hand, Johnny squats down to closely examine Taeil’s grip on the fishing pole — perhaps a little too close for Taeil’s comfort, judging from how often Johnny’s nose bumps against his knuckles.

 

“Your grip is a little weird,” Johnny comments, chuckling at the offended expression Taeil assumes at the remark, “Here, let me show you.”

 

He shuffles to stand behind Taeil, arms coming around from both sides. Taeil flinches as the strands of Johnny’s chocolate brown hair brushes against his cheek.

 

“So if you just—“ Johnny’s fingers gently manoeuvre Taeil’s thumb, “—move this finger over to the other side, and if you—“ Johnny’s knuckles nudge at Taeil’s palms, “—move your grip just a bit forward, you can hold the pole in a more stable position, and the fish won’t run away from you!”

 

And just like that, something heavy tugs at his line and the next thing Taeil knows, he is furiously rotating the reel with Johnny’s shouts of support ringing at his ears. It takes both of their strengths to haul the giant fish over the gunwale of the boat, where it flounders vigorously on the deck before stopping with one last shudder. Taeil is pretty sure the fish only came because of Johnny, but he couldn’t care less. The thought of a sashimi dinner AND breakfast the next day from the fish _he_ caught makes him feel giddy and warm all over.

 

Once the excitement from his first catch wears off however, Taeil starts paying attention to his other senses. Like the sweat trickling down his hand from underneath Johnny’s palm and the strong grip around his waist and the lack of distance between his and Johnny’s body. He turns to face a beaming Johnny towering behind him, the sunset casting a warm glow on his features. “I think I’ve got it, Johnny,” Taeil says in his best confident voice, eyeing at first the fish, then his waist.

 

What happens next happens so quickly, Taeil can barely register the details. All he remembers is Johnny’s face suddenly coming an inch away from his, the immediate panic that sets in causing him to push Johnny away, and the gratifying sensation of water cooling his burning cheeks.

 

* * *

 

_Johnny sent 17:46  YUTA I NEED THAT MANUAL RIGHT NOW_

 

_Johnny sent 17:46 Please tell me Taeil is water-resistant to at least 3m._

 

* * *

 

Thankfully the robot makers had some sense to program swimming skills in Taeil’s software, so Taeil at least didn’t drown. Or sink. Or whatever you call a humanoid on the brink of death by water suffocation.

 

It does reassure Johnny that Taeil is still at least functioning as before, albeit understandably a little unsteady on his feet. Feeling bad for having essentially pushed Taeil over the edge, Johnny insists on piggybacking him back the whole 30 minute walk home, despite his protests that he’s absolutely _fine_. Halfway down the avenue, Johnny notices Taeil’s breaths slow down against his neck; he looks over his shoulder and sees the boy sleeping peacefully, taking Johnny right back to this morning.

 

And yet, he’s fairly positive he can still feel Taeil’s heart thumping against his back.

 

_Huh._

 

* * *

 

Johnny decides to investigate this at home while he gets Taeil out of his wet clothes so he can scrub the grime and dirt gathered on him from the lake.

 

He starts by kissing the bridge of Taeil’s nose.

 

“Wh-what are you doing?”

 

Johnny squints at him, trying to get a good glimpse of Taeil from between the fingers covering his face.

 

“Are robots supposed to turn really pink and-“ Johnny curls his fingers around Taeil’s suddenly very warm wrist “-have their heart rates increase so quickly from that?”

 

“I-I told you, us newer robots have,” Taeil hiccups, “really life-like sensory systems. So life-like that they could metaphorically combust if you try anything funny again.”

 

“So life-like that they’re actually human.” Johnny hums in amusement as he watches the pink turn a fiery red, right up to his ears.

 

Like a cat caught red-handed for sneaking around the fridge, Taeil’s eyes widen before he slumps against the bathtub, head hanging low in defeat.

 

The appropriate emotional response to the situation is probably something like a mix of anger and relief, but Johnny keels over laughing instead to the point tears start rolling down. Even Taeil looks up at that, confused.

 

“If you missed me that much, you should’ve just said so,” Johnny wheezes in between guffaws, holding his cramping stomach. He peeks at Taeil looking forlorn and resists the urge to giggle again.

 

He shuffles up to Taeil, gently cupping his confused face, “You should definitely know by now that I’d drop everything if you just say the word.”

 

Johnny doesn’t let Taeil get another word in as he closes the gap between them, peppering little kisses on Taeil’s lips. Taeil doesn’t recall Johnny eating cherries before this, but he’s really digging the taste anyway.

 

(“You didn’t finish your sentence.”

 

“That’s the word. Kiss me.”

 

“Oh.”)

 

* * *

 

_Yuta sent 22:07 Do you still need a manual_

 

_Yuta sent 22:38 Oh so NOW you’re leaving me on read_

 

_10 more Yuta messages later_

 

_Johnny sent 23:11 Can you shut up I’m trying to do a thing here_

 

_Yuta sent 23:11 WHAT THING_

 

_Yuta sent 23:11 Oh I SEE ;) ;)) :)))0;;):)0 you’re welcome_

 

_Yuta sent 23:57 Do you mind sending him back soon though, Taeyong’s only found out now what’s happened so he’s freaking out and I don’t know how to feed Sicheng_

 

**Author's Note:**

> HELLO THANK YOU FOR READING. re: fishing in lake Michigan i have no idea if this is a thing you can do i'm sorry if it's completely wrong. pls feel free to give me concrit, kudos and comments are also appreciated!
> 
> last plug in for the remixed version of this fic which is just. again. absolutely amazing!! Read it [ here ](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15994124)


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